Fools Gold
by Lehaus
Summary: For Bella, the wakeup call came in the form of frustration and a final act of defiance that changed everything. For everyone else, is was just Bella. Pack/Bella.


**Fool's Gold.**

_For Bella, the wakeup call came in the form of frustration and a final act of defiance that changed everything. For everyone else, is was Bella. Pack/Bella. _

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_**Warning:** Swearing. Violence. Edward bashing. Adult themes in later chapters. Seriously. Lot's of Sex.  
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_**Disclaimer:** Twilight, the book/Movie/ and any Characters therein are the soul creations of SM. I make no claims. No copyright infringement intended._

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**Prologue:** _Prison break._

"_You can tell,_

_from the scars on my arms,  
and cracks in my hips,  
and the dents in my car,  
and the blisters on my lips,  
that I'm not the carefullest of girls." _

_Who the hell was Edward to prohibit Bella from seeing Jacob!_

The beat-up red Chevy gave a garish disgruntled rumble as Bella toed the acceleration, knuckles white with tension on the steering wheel. The speedometer was reading 55 mph and for the first time ever, she felt a flicker of irritation at the old girls inability to gain speed. The hole in the console— where the gift from Emmett had once sat, mocking her with its shiny newness— gapped ominously at Bella in a way that had her hunching in the driver's seat just a little more than she already was. Just one more thing to fight with Edward about. Since 'their' return from Italy, Edward had been adamant in his constant 'pushing.'

Pushing Bella to visit her mother. And lying about it. Pushing her to send out unnecessary college applications -_even going so far as to forge her signature when she flatly refused-_, and now he was pushing for a lock down on her damned whereabouts to keep her from getting anywhere near La Push.

The fury felt good. Righteous even. She was just sick of being pushed around and feeling constantly inadequate. Like her humanity made her stupid in some way.

Of course, Bella was glad the Cullen's were back. She was glad the horror of Volterra was over and that they now at least had a timeline for her to be changed, but it also seemed to be making Edward even more ..well…_ fatherly_. If that was even possible.

There were damned good reasons girls chose to date the bad boys their fathers didn't like. And it was simple. No one wanted to feel like they wee dating their parents. It was actually unsettling the way Edward watched her like a hawk. Quietly disapproving everything she did. Put a mustache on him and he was a second Charlie.

Bella's eye twitched in horror at the thought

If Edward had been controlling _before_ her birthday, he was worse now. Forcing weird foods on her, commenting on every tiny bit of weight she gained- or god forbid dropped- and even going so far as to invade the privacy of her bathroom if he felt the need.

Add into the mix that Jacob was still refusing to talk to her? Yeah Bella was pretty damned ticked off.

Although with Jacob she could at least see how it was slightly justified. Still! He'd left Bella hanging by the phone, _literally_, while he was off playing Mr. Enigmatic. Then had the gall to call up her house and rant because she hadn't thought to call him in the four seconds she'd been home from visiting her mother?

_Gah, it had to be a chauvinist, Y chromosome thing._

Using the sleeve of her flannel, Bella furiously swiped away the tears trekking salty paths down her cheeks, squinting through the rain that cascaded down in heavy sheets making driving perilous. Particularly for accident prone people like herself. She wasn't sad. She was_ angry._ And it was as if her stupid tear ducts were wired to that emotion. Without fail every time her temper rose, her eyes started to prickle with tears. It was embarrassing.

The gearbox shrieked in protest as she blindly shifted the Chevy from third back into first before barrelling up onto Billy Black's yard. Bella slammed on the breaks in an attempt to save Jacob's shed from being bowled down by her truck. Her tires spun, axels grinding as her truck slid full-on sideways towards the tree lines, her forehead colliding with the steering wheel. When it came to a final halt, having been stalled quite effectively, the engine was steaming and off to the side was a group of slack-jawed, half-naked Quileute's staring at her.

_Parking at its best._

Jacob was one of them. Or whom she thought was Jacob. Though with all the fog and the rain obscuring everything, it could have been a tree and she wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.

Spluttering back tears – mostly of frustration- Bella reached over to the seat next to her, snagged the six-pack of cherry soda and jerked open the door on unoiled hinges. She tripped twice while struggling to get a firm footing on the step to exit the truck and ended up in the pouring rain with mud all over her ass. The day just got better and better.

_Insert large amount of sarcasm here. _

Coming here had been very 'spur of the moment.'

One second she'd been on her way from school after having a particularly nasty fight with Edward in the middle of the school parking-lot, and the next she was hauling ass, driving like an absolute maniac, to La Push. She'd barely made it across the border before a shiny silver Volvo had sped up behind her and flashed its high beam twice.

She hadn't stopped. Hadn't even looked back.

She'd deal with Edward and his anger later.

Using the doorhandle as leverage, Bella was up and on her feet, slamming the door closed before marching off in the direction she hoped Billy's house was in. But between the heavy torrent and screen of hair that seemed resolute to blind her, Bella honestly had no idea where she would end up.

Halfway into her angry shuffle-march across the black's backyard she considered turning around and going home. Was fixing things with Jacob really worth Edwards's wrath?

Especially since Jacob was probably going to send her away and tell her to stuff her friendship where the sun didn't shine.

For a solid ten seconds Bella probably stood in the pouring rain, only now weighing the pros and cons of her last minute resolution.

She'd been soaked only seconds after leaving the safety and warmth of the cab of her truck. Now, however, she was so thoroughly wet through that her flannel clung to her like glue and her once-cute white under shirt now looked more like an oddly translucent layer of skin.

Not to mention her hair was fast becoming a heavy load that threatened to pull her backwards off her feet. It was also bitterly cold and her skin was now thoroughly covered in Goosebumps. She still hadn't decided whether or not this was a good idea when someone called out her name over the roar of the rain.

Jacob. His husky, slightly angry growl, beckoning to her through the fog and fear of rejection.

_Ah-ha!_ So it had been Jacob and the pack she'd spotted.

So what if Edward was angry and no doubt waiting in her room to scold her, and who cared that her sneakers made embarrassingly obscene _squish-squash_ noises when she walked?

Bella all but ran in the direction that voice seemed to float from.

Unable to keep her balance on the mud slick turf, Bella barrelled headlong straight into the broad and bare despite the torrential downpour, chest of her 'best friend' grunting as the force knocked the wind right out of her.

Hands, large and calloused caught her gently by the arms before she could fall, but the heat that they radiated burnt at her cold flesh. It hurt to be touched by Jake. But not as much as it hurt to see the look of total unwelcome and slight panic that was also mixed in with that concern.

Okay so, the option of him being glad to see her was off the table. Don't panic Bella, you can still bribe him with the lukewarm soda you've had in your truck for the last two weeks, she gave herself a quick pep talk for confidence

Stuffing the blinding veil of tangled hair out of her face, her teeth chattering for the first time since becoming drenched, Bella tried to smile winningly up at Jake.

"Hi Jake." she licked away the lines of water from her lips.

He opened his mouth, but she barrelled on before he could tell her to leave.

"Look, I know you are angry at me and I understand, but I needed to see you and I think you might have wanted to see me. We shouldn't have to stop being friends because of who I am dating. It's not fair to either of us." The words poured out of Bella before she could stop them.

Bella didn't know what she expected.

"Go home. Bella."

But _that_ wasn't it.

She stared up at him hurt, and in shock. Heart thumping painfully against her chest.

"Jake, why- what—" What was she supposed to say? What _could_ she say?

"Bella. Go home, you shouldn't be here. You made your choice." His repeating it didn't make it any less hurtful.

Bella could feel her treacherous lip quivering already as more tears threatened to spill over, but determination alone had her blinking them back.

"Jake, just because I choose to date Edward doesn't mean I don't also _choose_ to be your friend. Why can't I choose you both?"

Okay… so saying that out loud made it sound selfish and slightly creepy. She crossed her fingers and hoped he didn't pick up on the possible _'ick'_ factor of that sentence.

For a second, for one shining moment, a flicker of the old Jacob flashed across the face before her. However before anything more could be said two loud wolf whistles rang out from behind Jacob, startling them both.

Just like that Jacob features clouded over once more. Angry and bitter and unwelcoming.

"Leave Bella. You coming here changes nothing. Go back to your precious vampires."

Indignation coursed through her, winning over the cold and the hurt. And then she realised that Jacob was probably just putting on a front because of the pack. Bella wasn't going to lie. She didn't know the pack as much as she should. Sure, she knew a few of them by name, but she had never really taken a whole lot of interest in them.

After her brief encounter with Paul, Bella had actually tried to avoid them.

Still. She knew a cruddy situation when she saw one. And clearly Jacob had been gag ordered to stay away from her.

_Ooooh._

It was on.

Casting Jacob a lingering, disappointed look, Bella slipped past him and brushed off his hand when he made a feeble attempt to grab her.

Then she broke into a run.

From a shaky wobbling-hobble into a full out run, Bella launched herself at a calm collected, Sam.

For a brief second his eyes widened in alarm, arms lifting. Then, before either of them could anticipate, Bella was being snagged – mid-air!- around the waist and dragged away.

_Away _from her target.

She went wild. Bella screamed and scratched ineffectively at the air inches away from Sam's face. It was clear Sam had never had anyone try to stand up to him because he merely stood there staring at Bella in shock.

"You did this! You gag ordered him again didn't you!" she screamed, wiggling and writhing in the iron grip that held her firmly away from Uley. His face darked with confusion.

"I didn't do anything to him, Bella. Calm down we—"

She cut him off viciously, attempting to kick at him this time, missing by mere inches.

If anybody was affected by brawny menfolk, parading around virtually naked, it wasn't Bella.

"You think you can just—' what exactly? Tell him not to be my friend because I'm back with Edwar—_mrrph!_" her angry tirade came to an abrupt conclusion when a hand slapped over her mouth with enough force to hurt. Unable stop or hold back the noise of discomfort, it weaselled its way past her now bleeding lips, hidden by a gigantic russet hand.

Sam's face crumpled into helpless lines of pity. Bella didn't want his pity. She wanted to punch the_ pity_ right off his face. Before she could continue, Jacob's furious face floated into view.

So whoever was holding her like a sack of potatoes clearly wasn't Jake.

"Sam didn't gag order me into anything Bella! Did you ever think, for just one second did you even consider that I'd rather _have nothing to do _you then have to watch you turn into one of them?" He words were enough to shut Bella up.

She stared at him uncomprehendingly.

There was a snarl from the chest pressed to her back and when the hand fell away from her mouth she couldn't resist spitting out a mouthful of blood in Sam direction. Jacob stared at Bella's mouth in horror, body starting to shake. Smug, and for once not altogether useless at the mere sight of blood, Bella's glance bounced from Jake to Sam who had stepped forwards and was trying to pull him backwards, out of her reach. Unexpectedly, Bella's feet touched the soft, mushy ground, squelching as she sunk into it.

The pack must have assumed the fight was over.

And it might have been. Until someone said.

"You heard him leech-bitch. Leave."

Bella never had a chance to snap back with an angry retort.

Everything happened in an instant and in that second, Bella had no chance to react. Behind her. She caught the fuzzy sound of someone yelling. Quick and in a language she couldn't follow. To the left, someone was waving their arms frantically at Sam, and Sam was shouting at Jacob, but the words were garbled and Bella couldn't make sense of them.

A subdued reverberation- _that she had thought was thunder-,_ suddenly filled her ears like the high pitch buzz you sometimes get after swimming. There was a sudden tearing of fabric, a fluttering of denim and then… Bella was flying forwards. The world blurring past in a flash of colours and dizzying speed that had left her stomach behind.

Stars exploded behind her eyelids as the air in her lungs left in an inaudible ululation, her body jarring as it met with the ground belly down. Bella could smell was the crisp aroma of rain, the tartness of pine and an unidentifiable, skin prickling musk that she couldn't place and something metallic and rusty, as she choked in vain for air.

Hands —no, not hands, _paw's,_ giant paws bigger than her abdomen, so hot it felt like they scorched the skin and muscles off of her ribs, stood either side of Bella's body, close enough to her skin she could feel the occasional brush of wet fur.

Confused, she looked up into perturbed eyes.

Eyes the size of her trucks headlights.

Jacob's eyes.

Jacob's snout was mere inches from her nose.

There was a snarl from the wolf that hovered over her body, massive claws dug into the soft ground either side of her and then they were colliding. Jacob and Paul's. Leith bodies coiling in a frenzied display of mud and rain and fur and teeth.

Her still reeling mind struggled to piece together what had happened.

Paul had insulted her. And Jacob had lost control.

Paul must have been behind her. His phase had thrown her forwards. Which had probably saved her from being completely gutted by Jacob phasing.

Bella opened her mouth to tell Jacob… _well she wasn't sure what but it was probably not something she'd want Charlie hearing her say,_ when suddenly she felt the pain.

Burning. Horrible lines of fire. Starting from her right shoulder blade and ending at the curved beginning of her buttocks. But it wasn't just flesh deep. That inferno sunk deeper then skin and tissue. It soaked into her bones, found its way into her veins and was soon suffocating her in paralysing wave after wave of agony.

_Holy crow it hurt!_

Edward had been right. She _should_ have just gone home, filled out some more stupid college applications and none of this would have happened. Too late for regret now and not the right time to be dwelling on hindsight, Bella tried to push up onto her hands and knees, pausing when it caused the scorching ache that sizzled along the skin of her back to flare with a whole new intensity. Undeterred, she forced herself up.

Jacob had lost control and nearly killed her.

_She was going to kick his ass._

'_Jake?_' It was a conceptual question of course, her vocal cords having long since retiring after screaming herself hoarse.

"Jake."

This was too much like last time. Paul phasing. Jacob phasing. And her being left behind to try and figure out what the hell she'd just witnessed. But this time it was different. Jake had no right to get angry over Paul insulting her. He'd basically just thrown her friendship offer back in her face. It had been rude and uncalled for. She was pissed and was going to tell him exactly that. After he came back that was. For now she was just worried.

Last time Paul and Jacob had fought looked like a game compared to how they were going at it now .

Jacob had Paul by his hackles, while Paul had a mouthful of Jacob tail and looked like he was about to do a barrel roll.

Bella had never seen an animal have its tail ripped off. And she didn't want too.

"Jake!" Legs of jelly propelled her forwards, towards the two wolves going at it in full view. Bella was about three steps away from them when strong arms locked around her midriff and hauled her backwards fluidly, kicking and screaming. For the second time that day.

"Jacob!" She sounded half panicked and half pissed. And odd combination.

In the time it took Bella to blink, Paul's flank was bleeding and Jacob could no longer stand on his right, hind leg. This was no joke.

The yelps she could hear did nothing to sooth her frazzled nerves either. She'd come here wanting to make things with Jacob better. Not worse.

However apparently all she'd managed to do was create a gap between Paul and Jacob. Again.

Bella writhed in the bands of flesh covered iron that held her secure and when her thrashing obviously grew exasperating, she was rolled face first into a ribcage. Her arms crushed up against the underside of her breasts, feet no longer touching the ground.

Belle glared at musk covered, russet skin that she had grown fond of. _On Jake_. However this was Sam.

She dug her nails into that skin and gnashed her teeth, unable to get a firm hold on anything. This continued until the barking and sounds of animals crashing through the trees disappeared. Too fatigued to do anything else Bella went completely flaccid, sobbing and blowing snot bubbles against the firm ripples of Sam's chest.

When the hell had she started crying? When all the fight had bled away, Bella realised her waterlogged hair was being lightly rubbed and there were people around, voices, talking, quarrelling.

"-no way man! He had this coming. He had to know that insulting Bella in front of Jacob was a shitty idea." That sounded like Quil, but without looking Bella couldn't be sure. When she tried to move, even the tiniest, the arms around her back tightened until the flames spread and threatened to engulf her entire being in horrible flames of pain.

"Quil, go check on them. Make sure they haven't done too much damage. Try and intervene if at all possible. I'll meet you back at Billy's. See if I can get_ this_ taken home before it catches a cold."

"Hey! _You're_ alpha, why don't you go check on them and I wait here with Bella?"

The chest crushed to her cheek vibrated with an unearthly growl, it was a bizarre scenario to say the least.

"Gag ordering them stop won't do crap right now. Jacob would just fight the order and Paul would be left defenceless. Now do as I fucking say and go check on them. Take Leah with you."

"Alright, I'm going. _Sheesh."_

Bella dangled in Sam's grip like deadweight. Too sore to move and feeling weaker by the second.

Just how much blood had she lost?

Sam rearranged her in the encirclement of his arms, cursing when her head slumped unnaturally against his bicep. Powerless to stop herself, Bella blinked owlishly; unexpectedly able to see the few Quileute's assembled. Embry was one of them. Jared was another. Her eyes lingered on the last. A young boy standing behind Embry, staring at his feet. She had no idea who it was. But he was tall and lanky and looked so out of place in Sam's pack that her heart ached for him.

"Taha Aki would you just look at her back! I think I can see bone. That's not bone is it? She's not dead is she?" Jared poked her forehead tentatively. Bella snapped her teeth indignantly at the hand, the eerie calm that had befallen her, quickly forgotten. The hand withdrew hastily but even if it hadn't, the arms around her constricting like vice would have kept her from inflicting damage. Either way, Bella once again found herself mushed to the front of Uley, her nose unfortunately crushed into the crevice of his underarm.

_Ugh._ Wrong on so many levels. If the imminent threat of being _further _pressed into a chest that felt like a wall of bricks, she might have complained. Being somewhat smart, she astutely didn't, but she wanted to.

_The intent was there!_

Despite the torrential rain that had caused a noticeable chill to her skin, Sam was hot, temperature wise. His skin radiating nearly excruciating warmth into Bella. She felt like an egg on a grill. And the downy ringlets ducked away by his muscled arms were tickling her nose.

Trying to stifle the sound of it, Bella sneezed, unable to help it and found herself blushing when a ripple of chuckles followed. They had heard. She grumbled against the ribcage mashed into her face, shivering live a leaf.

Sam sighed, and by the undulating muscles beneath his skin and the gentle swaying that was making her feel vaguely nauseous, Bella could tell he was walking.

"Move you're asses, pups. Lightweight is going to catch a cold if we keep her out in the cold much longer." It undoubtedly should have bothered her that she found the gruff command tempting to obey.

However was distracted by the words meaning more than the words themselves.

Inside? _As in leave?_

What about Jake? They were just going to leave him out there? What if he got hurt?

Furious, Bella renewed her weakened struggles against Uley's hold. Squawking indignantly when all he did was toss her into a foreman hold. Bella kicked her legs against his thighs, knowing she'd hit her mark when she felt him halt and hunch slightly with a suffering grunt. Her ingenuous plan of jerking free came to an unforeseen conclusion when an arm slung itself over the back her legs and held them pinioned and motionless. It hurt to realise that she was still so pathetically _human_ around things that, quite simply, weren't.

And here Bella had thought her days of inadequacy were over.

Silly her.

"That wasn't very nice." Sam pointed out Bella's grave travesty against him, and his balls.

She wanted to reply with a witty '_and abduction is?'_ but decided to reserve her smarm for later. Besides. The situation was sort of her fault. Edward _had_ told her the wolves were dangerous and she had flat out ignored his warnings and went to La Push anyway.

From her new position _-tossed like bag of potatoes over Uley's shoulder-_ Bella could see where Jacob and Paul were, this was good. But it was also making the burning across her shoulders and down the length of her spine intensify and breathing was fast becoming a problem, this wasn't so good. Not that she was going to be telling _Sam_ that. Bella's charade of ass-kicking invincibility would continue until she got what she came for! Or, more likely, she collapsed from either agony or fatigue.

Ignoring the twinge it caused Bella slowly and deliberately sucked in gulp of air and began her rants anew.

"You can't just leave him! He could get hurt. Help him, and if you won't then let me down and I will," The words were pouring out of her mouth like cacoethes loquendi— also known as _'diarrhoea of the mouth— _yet if Sam, or any of the others for that matter, heard, it didn't show.

Bella pulled and tugged at Sam's hair, bit at his ears and even scratched at his back. Further outbursts where continuously disregarded as the flock of Quileute's calmly herded onto the timber laths of Billy Black's portico and straight through the man's front door. The flyscreen snapped shut a hairsbreadth away from Bella's face and she couldn't help but flinch.

Obviously, it had been deliberate on Sam's part. Probably revenge for kicking him in the testicles.

Faced with only the view of where we had been, rather than where we presently were, Bella had to rely on the sounds of Billy's chair squeaking as he rolled into the kitchen, to tell her where he was. Then waited patiently for Sam to put her down, or for someone to tell him to do so. Neither happened.

"Sam. What on earth happened out there? Is that…. blood? Should I call Charlie? Should I call the hospital?" The elder Black greeted Sam warmly and with respect, until he caught sight of whatever it was Bella's back looked like. She couldn't see. And she was immensely glad for it. However she was also starting to feel numb and dizzy.

"Call, Sue. Tell her she needs to get here ASAP." The brut lugging Bella around like a backpack responded and she could almost hear the frown in his tone. Billy's chair squealed away. He had obviously gone to call Sue.

As the group further conversed, Bella's mind drifted back to Jake's angry face as he told her that they couldn't be friends. The way his eyes had glittered with disgust at the mention of the Cullen's. She knew it must have seemed like she just let them back into her life. And maybe she had, but didn't Jake understand that without them, she had no reason to live?

Just as her bottom lip jutted out of its own accord and started to tremble all attention was turned on her. The world blurred for a moment, switching between colours and nausea as Sam spun to face the door so that Bella could actually see whom she was talking to.

Ashamed by the tears gathering in the ducts of her eyes, she hung her head and listlessly glanced at Billy through the mess of her hair. He was back from using the phone it seemed.

"I'd like to say it's good to see you Bella, and I am glad you made an effort to see Jacob. But damnit all if you haven't caused a bloody mess that's going to be hard to clean up." His voice was a mixture of concern and reprime, but the gentle hand he laid against Bella's hair was comforting nonetheless. The bitter unfairness of the situation was staggering. All she has done was come to talk to Jacob. Yet they were all acting like she'd declared war on them.

She found herself unable to speak past the sudden lump in her throat, and could only nod in response, sniffling back her tears quietly, hoping no one could hear them. After a moment, Billy told Sam that it was safe to put her down.

Almost reluctantly, Sam did, sliding Bella off his shoulder and lifting her carefully down till her feet touched the ground. The pain that shot up her back as his hands artfully handled her was almost crippling. Bella let out a pained noise and slid to her knees. Although Sam had been careful in putting her down, he had still agitated her wound it appeared. It was hardly Sam's fault he was a boorish cave dweller. It probably came from spending time with Paul.

Still, Bella couldn't deny that being close, though in protest, had kept her warm. Now with the loss of Sam's body heat, her fervent trembling had resumed. Her teeth even chattered a little. Standing there- well she was sitting but that's not the point-, surrounded by everything that suddenly seemed so large, Bella found herself missing home.

She wished Jacob would hurry. Even if it was only so she could yell at him.

She wanted to get this over with and go home. Where everything was familiar and unchanging. Comforting.

"Shit, Billy I think she needs a doctor. I don't know if Sue is equipped for this." Sam hissed after a moment, squatting down beside Bella. Unable to say anything, Bella merely shook her head. She wasn't going anywhere til she'd had a chance to talk to Jacob one on one. Alone.

"I wouldn't underestimate Sue if I was you, boy." Billy scoffed. "She was the one that stitched Emily back together after all."

The room suddenly got very tense.

"I should actually call Emily. Let her know we'll be a bit late." Sam said moments later, disappearing down the hall.

Bella said nothing. _Did _nothing. She remained tightly curled in on herself, making a small ball with her limbs. It was probably so far from good for her wounds. But she didn't care.

Movement caught her attention but she didn't look up. Seconds later she was being engulfed with warmth. Bella twitched, not recognising the smell or size of this person.

"Damn Bella, you're frozen to the bone." The wall of warmth at her back hissed out, arms coiling up around her loosely. Bella knew that voice. Embry. It was Embry keeping her warm.

"D-don't touch me." She grumbled irritably and made a sad effort of scooting away, earning a rumbled laugh from the other two still remaining in the kitchen. Bella was angry at Embry.

She was angry at all of them.

It was completely unjustified, but she was.

A few minutes later, Sam was back. He turned to Billy. They proceeded to carry out an entire conversation in mumbled Quileute. Which was rude. And also not a good sign.

"How long till Sue arrives?" Sam signed out, sounding tired. Bella's frown increased tenfold.

The frown was forgotten when Bella found herself being hoisted up and settled over muscular yet thin legs. Surprised and outraged she looked up from her cocoon of pain and hair and glared mightily at Embry, who have her a sheepish grin.

"You looked cold."

Before she had a chance to reply, Billy wheeled over with a dark scowl on his face. Bella gulped. Billy could be scary at times.

Seemingly oblivious to the dark glower Bella was receiving from Billy, Sam spoke, addressing both her and Billy at different intervals.

"Those are some serious cuts on your back Bella. Try not to move much. And as for Sue. About ten minutes I reckon." It sounded slightly terse, but mostly just worried. He had also answered his own question. That was a little weird.

"Should we call Charlie?" This was from the boy Bella couldn't name. He looked so sweet and naive compared to everyone else. Bella wanted to pet him till he was fluffy.

Billy's chair shrilled.

"I already tried. Turns out the kids on her own for a week, maybe even two. Charlie had to rush off; apparently they got a lead on the '_mass murderer'_ and wanted him up in Seattle. I don't know whether I am relieved or ticked off they don't actually know what's been tearing up the streets. Not something I would want Charlie around. Anyway, apparently he tried calling Bella but her phone was switched off. He asked if I could arrange fro someone to drop in on her every now then. Make sure she isn't having parties or inviting boys over at all hours of the night. I told him I would."

Bella silently agreed. Then froze, realising that hey! Freedom! For the next week she had the house to herself. That was awesome. And since she was ungrounded, she could have Angela over. She actually got excited for a second. Till she thought about Edward. Who was probably still in her room, pacing and furious. And then the fact that Charlie had actually asked Billy to check on her like some sort of minor which was insulting.

However instead of throwing a tantrum and getting angry, she sat there and inwardly stewed. Then let her mind wander.

She attempted to mentally predict how Edward would take the news of her being sliced up by one of the pack but gave up when each scenario led to a scarier outcome then the last.

"Well, no point letting her freeze. I am pretty sure I still have some of Rachel's clothes in the back. I'll go get her something to wear that isn't wet and covered in mud and blood." Billy grunted while examining Bella's miserable ball of limbs.

"And maybe something that _isn't_ see-through, I swear while she was ranting at Sam, all he was focused on was her nipp—_ow, ow,_ ouch, what? It's true!"

"Excuse me!?" Bella flushed a brilliant shade of red, curling even tighter into a ball.

_Well._

Wasn't that just a mortifying thought.

Sam, Billy _and _Embry all swatted Jared upside the head for his comment. The younger boy in the room just blushed and ducked his head, scuffing a barefoot on the floor without meeting anyone's eye. This conversation had to be weird for the kid.

While Billy wheeled away, Sam hunkered his beefy bod down in one of the Black's little wooden chairs. Bella stared, waiting for the poor chair to give under this man's weight. It didn't.

Stubborn little chair.

"Er, Sam, buddy." Jared dragged his chair over the linoleum flooring, taking a whopping great bite out of one the of the display apple from the bowl in the middle of the table. Sam responded with a fatigued grunt.

_Very manly._

"Should one of us…er.. well go check on the others. They've been gone for a while now."

They'd forgotten.

The awkward silence that fell over the room was so thick you could have cut it.

Luckily it was broken by a furious looking Quil stomping through the door with Jacob not even a step behind him.

"Quil. I said I was sorry." Jacob blurted, looking aggrieved. And naked. He was also naked.

Quil scowled.

"The next time you and Paul get into a row and he is about to bite your bits off, you can forget about me jumping in to help. I can't believe you bit me!" He ranted. Jacob opened his mouth, probably to say something in his defence, but Quil cut off whatever it was by growling a moment later. "On the ass!"

Bella's jaw dropped.

_Oh my. _

Prologue End.

AN: Now! I'd like to point out that A) Bella spent most of Eclipse (The Book) either irritated at Edward, angry at Jacob, or yelling at Charlie for trying to butt into her life. And B) She had personality in the book. She had fire and she gets mad. She also had violent tendencies. She punched Jacob' after all. She also act's impulsively. So, don't get to mad. I tried to make sure she wasn't to wildly OoC.

And with that out of the way, I guess all that's left is, to tell me what you think. Do you hate it, love it? Hit me up with any suggestions and any mistakes you can see, as this is, of course, unbeta'd.


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